Nearly 100,000 devotees converged for the final day of
Navratri Festival on October 13, 2013 at RatangarhTemple
in Datia District in Madhya Pradesh. The stampede happened on a bridge leading
to the temple killing more than 110 people mostly women and children. Do we
Hindus care about the lives of our brothers and sisters? The official apathy
and callous attitude shown towards crowd management during Hindu festivals is
nothing new. Have we ever bothered to ask why there is always poor
crowd-control techniques and planning by the authorities during Hindu festivals? This will continue in future because we Hindus are never united and
are not bothered about the welfare of the community.

The stampede resulted due to the overcrowding on a bridge that
leads to the temple. The bridge is 500m long and just 10m wide.

This is not the first time a tragedy has struck in this
temple. In 2006, 50 pilgrims had got washed away falling in panic into the SindhRiver
from the same bridge.

As usual blame game has started.

Official apathy is the reason for such stampedes. When it is
known that a large crowd will assemble in the temple during Navratri, officials
should have first take care of crowd management, security and life of the
people participating in the festival.

Temple stampedes during
festivals and auspicious days are nothing new in India.